A comment on the price

It’s not just consumer software that is SaaS. Pretty much all software in industry (at least supply chain which is my area) has to comply with SaaS now too.

Yes, I’m very familiar with Adobe’s various Creative Cloud subscription plans, and also with the impact CC has had on Adobe’s cash flow. The downside, at least in Adobe’s case, is that it’s a source of ill will among their customers. Fortunately for Adobe, there aren’t viable alternatives for many/most of their customers. Not sure that’s the case for Roon.

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:open_mouth:

Glad I have the lifetime subscription then!

Honestly I wouldn’t have stayed if I knew I would have to keep paying every year. I started with the annual but after 2 months realized that a) I wanna keep using this software b) Financially and psychologically it would make more sense paying the large sum upfront.

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I tend to recall the comments by people who knew they needed Roon in their life after the first 5 minutes, perhaps because that was my experience.

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Otis Rush I Can’t Quit You Baby

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Not that it matters to me as a Lifetime subscriber, but I think offering monthly subscription at $12/month would be a good idea.

I bet many people would prefer doing monthly, not only for ability to try with no long term commitment, but also for budget reasons

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Yesterday I have been asked why I pay $500 or 120$ a year for Itunes on steroids.
Serious.
Most people come from that Itunes world and they have enough with that.
And Itunes is free with from Apple as they want to sell their content.
I think we are a (small) group of music lovers and its a challenge to transport that to a larger crowd.
How much are people ready to pay? Most, I think, not a penny. Because of products like Itunes.
I have no idea how many people are out there ready to pay $$$ for a product like Roon.
For me its worth much more than I paid for it, but I am afraid not so for the average consumer.

It goes both ways. I don’t know the tastes of the person who asked you, or their income relative to yours. But when I’ve been asked questions like that about my audio (or skiing) gear, it was easy to ask back about things like luxury autos, or cruise holidays, or Las Vegas gambling :wink: À chacun son goût.

People who buy Apple products usually have enough funds for Roon.
Apple generated a certain culture with their Music Business over the last 10 years or so that is difficult to overcome.
For certain things you pay, others have to be free. Thats in the mind, thats a result of education.I see that a huge part of the young “millenial” generation thinks like that. Music has the “etiquette” free. They pay happily for travel, clothing, skiing, etc., you name it. Not so for Music.

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Much of it is programming. Programming of how a person thinks. Most of the audiophile crowd wouldn’t hesitate to spend $500 on a piece of equipment to significantly improve their system, or even lose $500 in an equipment upgrade after using something for a period of time. Much of the problem is mindset. People view hardware and software with a different spending mindset. I view Roon (and my Tidal subscription) as part of my system, and had no issue signing up for the lifetime subscription.

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Yes, exactly!

Cheers, Greg

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When buying Roon, I swapped my €2000 Meridian Core for a €600 Mac mini (later a €500 NUC on Linux). After Roon Bridge appeared, I swapped my €2500 Meridian Streamer for a €100 Pi and added two extra zones to the house for pocket change.

Somehow I consider Roon the gift that keeps on giving. :slight_smile:

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I would have some fun with that friend and ask how they like their $800 iPhone and if it was better than their previous $800 iPhone and the one before that.
Not everything at Apple is free now is it.

Vs $500 for an app that will stream music to my squeezeboxes, Meridian zones, Apple TV, Sonos units and some rPi. Whilst giving me unparalleled music library discovery info and seamless integration of 25 milliion Tidal albums.

I have some really good mates that also don’t “get it” and think I am a bit mad. I don’t mind as I know we are all a bit mad with something.

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Hehe, you couldn’t pay me $500 to use iTunes for a year, never mind lifetime :D.

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I am sure we here have more or less similar opinions on Itunes.

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Um, Mr. Silberman is the same person who was recently taken to task by Archimago?

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Silberman is VP of Sales & Marketing, so it figures that his worldview doesn’t correspond to Archimago’s. I hope Silberman’s responsibilities are focused on B2B. The Roon team’s straight talk on this forum is a huge customer-relations plus, IMO, and I wouldn’t want to see that change.

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Absolutely agreed.

When Working for Audioquest, I’m sure he had certain marching orders for promoting the product. With Roon, those orders won’t be the same.

http://www.hifi-enthusiast.co.uk/Hifi-Events/Roon-Labs-appoints-head-of-sales-and-marketing-24941.php